Mysterious vibrating hard-drive - Samsung HD501LJ

[greenclaws]

Just built a new pc and everything was whisper quiet apart from a really boomy modulating noise. When I held my hand against the case, there was a very strong vibration in time with the noise. I thought it must have been the power supply or the case fan vibrating the case so I bought grommets and a gasket and fitted them. No joy. I finally located that it was the second hard-drive that I just bought. When I took it out, all vibration in the case stopped.

It's a Samsung HD501LJ, the 500gb one that is £59 at eBuyer. Is there something wrong with the drive or is it meant to vibrate that much? The noise is really distracting, but you could argue it's the pc-case (an Antec Sonata 1) However, the harddrive is seated on a noise and vibration reducing chassis that comes with the case, so to make the case vibrate and make that much noise, it must really be going some. I didn't know that hard-drive platters constantly spin, even when not in use. It's the secondary drive so it's not like it's constantly reading and writing like the first drive (which doesn't vibrate at all and is a 300gb Diamondmax 10).

Any ideas what's wrong? Ideally I want tot take the drive back if it's going to be a pain in the arse but I don't see that I really have an excuse to...

[burtie]

I`ve just had the same problem with a Seagate 500g drive its my main drive and it was making a right noise,in the end i cut up one of the wife`s bras for the elastic and suspended i in my 5.2 drive bay i now can`t hear a thing other than the wife moaning about the bra lol.

[notsobig]

lol@bra

I had this harddrive vibrating sound problem with my Samsung drive too so I believe its normal. I had to eliminate the gap between the drive rail and drive cage slit that it slides in by sticking very thin layer of tape over it. After that no more noise problem for me and the drive is generally very quite and I'm happy with it's performance.

[EtheAv8r]

I have 4 of these drives - and think they are absolutly great. I don't have any vibration issues, but mounted in Antec P180 with rubber 'vibration absorbing' grommets may be the reason.

Grommets are easy to retro-fit to any mounting and may be the solution?

[Winkle]

I have 4 of these drives - and think they are absolutly great. I don't have any vibration issues, but mounted in Antec P180 with rubber 'vibration absorbing' grommets may be the reason.

Grommets are easy to retro-fit to any mounting and may be the solution?

Agreed, i have the Antec P182 and the grommets seem to eliminate any vibration. Nice cheap solution to retrofit too, plus your wife won't mind...

[burtie]

Agreed, i have the Antec P182 and the grommets seem to eliminate any vibration. Nice cheap solution to retrofit too, plus your wife won't mind...

Hummm maybe she will buy me an Antec P182 it could save her on bra`s in the long run lol.

[Behemoth]

I've got this problem with my PC7 when I have the side on, solution, run it without the side on

[demonicd]

I'm not the kind of person who knows a great deal about nuts and bolts (or grommets), so could somebody describe what these vibration absorbing grommets are? And where do you get them? My Samsung 500GB drive vibrates when reading/writing in my Akase Eclipse case so would like to stop this if possible.

[Winkle]

Silicon Grommets:

Basically fat washers that stop the hd and the screw from vibrating against the case.

[dancingmatt]

Like others, no problem with my 2 501LJs in rubber-grommets in an Antec P180b case.

[demonicd]

Basically fat washers that stop the hd and the screw from vibrating against the case.

OK, I get it. Those numbers are sizes I guess. Which size for hard drives?

[Oobie-]

My brothers 501LJ does vibrate but nothing hugely noticeable.
What is noticeable is the fact there is a constant high pitched ring coming from the drive.

[kalniel]

All hard drives make a vibration if they're not secured properly - you don't need rubber grommits for that, but it can make it easier. If it's properly secure there won't be a vibration.